This solo Psylocke series came out in 2024, written by Alyssa Wong (Captain Marvel 2023, Doctor Aphra, White Fox: Infinity Comic) and illustrated by Vincenzo Carratù (Mary Jane & Black Cat, Dracula: Blood Hunt), colored by Fer Sifuentes-sujo (Giant-Size Spider-Gwen) with Ariana Maher as the letterer.
Psylocke gets expelled from the X-Men by Cyclops and goes solo. A non-binary college student she saved at the start of the first issue, Devon Di Angelo, turns out to be a tech-savvy hacker who gets jobs and information for her on the web. Psylocke takes a job as a security at an A.I.M auction, which turns out to be a mutant trafficking operation, particularly with kids, setting Psylocke's more aggressive instincts free. A lot of the issues follow her dismantling the trafficking ring and fighting the people responsible along with John Greycrow, we also see her fight with a villain known as the Taxonomist, other X-Men show up and Kwannon is haunted by the return of a ghost from her past.
Be prepared for a lot of very dynamic and well crafted splash pages or even just pages that track the movement of the characters in very ingenious illustrations fragmented by outlines of panels that help to isolate the movement of the characters within the layout of the image without having to break it into numerous different panels. The way they use these big panels and have the Psylocke drawn in different poses is very effective at making the reading process very agile and dynamic. To that you add some wonderful colors and you get a pleasing-looking comic.
The constant action feels earned because it manages to establish danger and stakes quite efficiently and speedily within the narrative, sprinkled with some clever and funny one liners that stay very much in character.
The writing does a pretty good job at showing Psylocke's mental issues as she struggles to leave behind the thirst for blood and murder she was indoctrinated into from a very young age by The Hand, putting her current romantic relationship in a delicate situation. The flashbacks work quite well as they come in at very well-timed places in the narrative to either explain something or relate certain things to the main character without feeling forced. By the time we see more of Mistuki and Kwannon growing up together under intense and inhuman training along with abuse by their master we are then gifted with some very emotional moments.
Later on other characters like Magik and Rogue join in on the fun but the storyline always stays on the same track and these special appearances only are there to support and help Psylocke's story and are never distracting or badly implemented.
A very enjoyable read that you can pick up without really much knowledge of previous X-Men stories and still be engaged by what’s presented here.
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